Renault Master E-Tech Reviews

…but Renault may have hit the nail on the head with its inner-city commuter, the Twizy. It goes on sale in Europe late this year, baffling showgoers at its 2009 Frankfurt motor show debut who thought it was just a styling exercise. Or a bit of artistic licence. Renault - which is insisting the name won't change - is to put two models on the market. The first is the Twizy 45 - which has a weeny 4kW electric motor and because it equates to the performance of a Gopher, can be driven without a licence in some countries - at just Euro 6990 (about $9500). But you'll then need a battery which Renault will lease for about Euro 45 a month ($62). The second Twizy offers more meat. The Renault Twizy - don't confuse this with the Twizy 45 - has a whopping 15kW electric motor and starts at Euro 7690 ($10,500) with a battery lease of Euro 49 ($67) a month. The range between the Twizy's plug-in charges is 100km and it takes three-and-a-half hours to charge. Clearly made for dense inner-city motoring (and parking), the Twizy seats two in a tandem arrangement, is a mere 2.32m long and 1.19m wide. Renault says it's safe - compared with what? - because it has a deformable body; the stability of four wheels at each corner of the body; lateral beams either side of the chassis; a driver's airbag; a four-point harness at the front and a three-point safety belt at the rear. Because Twizy's occupants are protected and held in place, they are under no requirement to wear any sort of protective gear. Which is the same argument used by BMW's now defunct C1 scooter. Renault claims the Twizy's running costs - including insurance, maintenance and energy (battery lease and electricity for recharging) - are cheap as chips, working out at 15 per cent lower than those of a three-wheeled scooter. Renault says the storage space suits commuters or shoppers, with a 31-litre lockable bin beneath the rear seat. Ditch the passenger and the space goes up to 55 litres and, for even more cargo, there's three litres of stowage space either side of the steering wheel. The Twizy is one of four Renault ZE (zero emission) vehicles to be launched this year in Europe.

WHEN you think of French cars, you probably think of odd-looking hatchbacks with exorbitant prices and questionable reliability. They do well in Europe but less well here because the Japanese can bring them in cheaper, make them better looking and screw them together so they don't fall apart.But of course the French also make large cars. These have much higher prices and are even more expensive to fix. Furthermore, sometimes they are so odd even the French won't buy them.Citroen is generally cited as the mad one, although that would overlook the crazy heights scaled by Renault. A decade ago it came up with something called the Avantime, a bizarre combination of the worst bits of a hatchback and people-mover. It was big but had only two doors.Undeterred by an almost total absence of buyers it followed up with the Vel Satis, a large executive hatchback that swapped weirdness for ugliness. The French president was driven around in one. But he had little choice.After both cars flunked in Britain, it didn't bother trying to sell them here. For some time Renault's largest offering here has been the Laguna. This was a modest mid-size hatchback until Renault's design department caught up with it three years ago and made it very ugly indeed. Buyers responded by shunning it in droves.Now Renault has brought in another large car, the Latitude, which arrives to sit atop a rejuvenated range. It replaces the Laguna, although in reality the Latitude is substantially larger and even bigger than the defunct Vel Satis.Nevertheless, in Australian terms, it's still classified as a mid-size car and goes up against the Toyota Camry, Mazda 6 and Ford Mondeo, although it's a shade longer than all of them.Renault in Australia recently went through one of its periodic relaunches. Although it returned here a decade ago, it's still struggling to get traction and sales have been in decline. Its latest reinvention is the most thorough so far. As well as a swag of new cars, it has a new executive team and a different attitude to buyers. In the past it expected buyers to stampede Renault showrooms with cash, blinded into paying premium prices by the prospect of driving something so exotically Gallic. Hence its repeated disappointment.VALUEBelatedly, it has lowered the prices to compete against the mainstream, which is where the cars belong.The Latitude starts at $36,990 with the four-cylinder diesel, driven here, and a petrol V6 at the same price. The fully loaded version, with either engine, is $42,490. That's at least $2000 cheaper than the Laguna and right in the middle of mid-size prices. It could cause some buyers to detour on the way to the Mazda showroom.Equally confusing will be the fact the Latitude comes with an awful lot of kit. In the top-spec luxe version I drove it was hard to find anything missing. There's leather, sat nav, parking sensors, reversing camera, heated seats with massage function, triple-zone climate control, keyless start, electronic park brake, cornering headlights, foglights, a speed limiter and panoramic sunroof.A lot of these are options on similarly priced cars. In fact, a lot of them are options on more expensive cars.DESIGNThere's that especially French contribution to motoring pleasure, the fragrance diffuser, controlled by no fewer than three buttons on the dash. Talk about unique selling proposition ... All this is backed up by a decent amount of room inside. The rear seats are slightly higher than the fronts so the kids can see out, and they split-fold to access the 477-litre capacity boot.Buyer doubts will remain, of course, so Renault has added reassurance about reliability. Last month, it introduced a five-year warranty, the first European brand to do so.Unusually for a new French car, the Latitude hasn't taken very long to get here. It was revealed at the Paris motor show last September. In showrooms, barely seven months later is setting quite a pace.The main reason is that the Latitude engineers did not have to start with a clean slate. The car owes its origins to the Japanese half of the Renault-Nissan alliance. Underneath, it's the Nissan Maxima launched here two years ago. The Maxima is one of those middle-of-the-road cars that wins awards when all the points are added up but is so monumentally dull it's hard to imagine someone actually wanting one.The Latitude avoids blandness and tries hard not to offend. This is an advantage in a segment where good looks are in short supply. Next to a Subaru Liberty, Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, the Latitude is relaxing on the eye. Inside, the 10 shades of black are broken here and there by a daring bit of chrome. It's all quite tidy and padded to the touch.DRIVINGIt's a relaxing drive, because there's little in its dynamics to tear you away from counting fenceposts. The steering lacks on-centre feel while its handling isn't precise enough to satisfy those for whom driving is a pleasure rather than a chore. The car's composure can get flummoxed by some surfaces and the way it tips into corners doesn't inspire a great deal of enthusiasm.The Latitude has the merits of a cruiser, especially with the diesel engine in the test car. It's a chuggy sounding unit, something the best diesels avoid these days, but gets better after it's warmed up and, while it won't convert petro-holics, it does have the right temperament for a long trip.It's also much more frugal than the petrol alternative, a 133kW 2.5-litre V6 shared with the Maxima, using a respectable 6.5 litres of fuel per 100km against 9.7.There's a manual mode in the six-speed automatic but it doesn't relinquish much control, rejecting downshifts and changing up at 4500rpm.So sit back and play with the toys. You'll need a little familiarity to grasp the fussy French logic to the controls, despite a demonstration, the radio had me fuming for a while, and there's a separate cluster of buttons for the sat nav. The ride isn't perfect (does anyone expect the French to lead on this quality any more?), but it's comfortable enough for long highway stretches."Good enough" pretty much sums up the car, too. It excels at nothing, and sells on value and equipment.In the two years since its sister, the Maxima, arrived it has failed to meet its showroom targets. Renault's goals for the Latitude are more modest, hoping to lure 200 buyers away from the default choices. That looks achievable. What it won't do is bring about wholesale change to the way.Read more about prestige motoring at The Australian.

The underachieving French brand is finally getting some traction with a new value-driven strategy and a giant marketing push Down Under, and now joins Kia, Hyundai, Nissan and Mitsubishi in the five-year support  team.The warranty includes five years of roadside assistance and is being backdated to April 1 as Renault works to give potential buyers the safety net they need to join the brand."This is something that's going to demonstrate great confidence in the brand and commitment to Australia. It also enhances our value-added proposition," says the managing director of Renault Australia, Justin Hocevar."This is a first for a European brand. It helps us demonstrate confidence. If we've got a bit of an edge, then that's a good thing."Renault is also opening its own finance division in partnership with its backroom partner in Australia, and the other half of its global alliance, Nissan."Renault just hasn't been on people's shopping list. That's really going to make it much easier to put an attractive proposition to customers," says Hocevar. "We're about bringing value to the brand, rather than discounting."He says sales this year have been promising after a major attack at the Australian Grand Prix, including the launch of a special-edition Megane RS 250. Sales of the Megane have also improved massively since a new model with better pricing, and now the arrival of the Latitude sedan to take over from the unloved Laguna at the top end."In March we had 259 sales versus 160 last year. Year-to-date we're up ... everything is at unprecedented levels. It's all going very well. We've got a long way to go, but we're moving in the right direction and doing the right things," says Hocevar.

Korea, Japan and France have each had a hand in the new Renault Latitude. The French brand's latest pitch into the mid-sized field is more controlled and on-target than anything that's driven under the badge in the past, and also comes with a $36,990 opening price that buries unfortunate memories of failures with the over-priced and under-done Laguna in the past.The Latitude still has to overcome buyer resistance, and it needs to answer plenty of questions, but it proves that new Australian management is not stopping after re-positioning and re-pricing the Megane at the start of the year. The Latitude is definitely a Renault, but not as we've known them. It's less 'French', more worldly, and that approach could work for a car that must go up against everything from the Ford Mondeo to Honda Accord and Toyota Aurion.VALUEA starting price of $36,990 looks good and there is a lot of good stuff in the Latitude. For a start, the bottom line is the same for both the turbodiesel and V6 petrol engines, and there is a Luxe package with plenty of added luxury for $5500. Building with Samsung in Korea means the list of basic equipment runs from leather seats and alloy wheels to sun blinds, keyless starting, a 3D sound system, satnav - a TomTom system including speed limits - and dual-zone aircon.The Luxe pack has a claimed $7000 of value, from Bose sound to a glass sunroof, massaging on the driver's seat, a reversing camera and even an ioniser for the cabin air. But the big value boost in the Latitude is the five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. "This gives us a flagship model. It has all the luxury features, but also gives us somewhere to move in the brand and moves us into the family market," says Justin Hocevar, managing director of Renault Australia.TECHNOLOGYMost of the technology is loaded into the equipment, not the mechanical package, including the ioniser. The Latitude is standard four-door sedan with two engine choices – the torquey turbodiesel and smooth V6 - and front-wheel drive with a six-speed automatic across the models. But there is some neat stuff hidden away, including the basics of the Nissan Maxima in the mechanical package and the V6 engine.DESIGNThe Latitude will sell in more than 50 countries and that means it is pretty bland. Not offensive, but not a head-turner. The shape ensures there is good space in the cabin - particularly rear- seat legroom - and a big boot.No-one can explain the silly little attempt at a spoiler on the boot, the cabin is effective without much personality, and it's impossible to look at the Latitude and not benchmark it against the classy job done by Kia on its latest Optima. The two cars even have something in common - a shiny black roof that's becoming a must-have item on wannabe prestige cars.SAFETYA five-star safety rating is one of Renault's brand pillars and that's what it is expecting from the Latitude. But it's yet to be tested and so we have to rely on the strength of the French company's body engineering, as well as six airbags, ESP stability control and some smart stuff including anti-pinch electric windows (to protect little hands) and a speed limiter. The brake assist also trips the hazard warning lights in a panic stop, something we've only seen in upscale cars in the past.DRIVINGThe Latitude is a relaxed drive. It's relaxed and comfortable, with some nice surprises from the clever satnav to rear sunblinds. The basics are good, the ride and handling is safe and predictable, and it is fit-for-purpose on the driving front. The turbodiesel engine has solid shove and if you want more then it's available in the V6. It's a sweet motor we've liked in the Maxima, although there is no temptation - not even shift paddles behind the wheel - to encourage anything sporty.Some of the quality looks a bit ordinary, at least compared to the classiness in the new Kia Optima, and it's not nearly as enjoyable to drive as a Mondeo. It's probably closest to the Camry and Aurion, although with the turbodiesel engine and more equipment at a value price.At the end, the Latitude is a much more sensible choice than a Laguna in the past, but it just doesn't have that 'French' look and feel you expect from a French car. That could be a bonus if Renault can lure people into showrooms on a value deal, but we wonder if the Latitude is different and classy enough in a class that's already packed with choices.VERDICTNice car, nice price, nice warranty, but not enough impact."A nice package at a good price, but it's lost the Renault feeling"

It's the smell that comes from the ioniser built into the dashboard of its new flagship model, the $42,490 Latitude Luxe. The high-tech air freshener leads a long list of standard equipment that also runs to a massage seat for the driver in a car that takes the lead at Renault from the unloved - and unsuccessful - Laguna.Renault has already re-positioned its Megane line-up with a major price cut and believes the Latitude move can work, thanks to the value that comes partly from a French car that's twinned with Nissan and built in Korea. "The brand has had some stigma in the past and we don't think that's warranted any more," says Justin Hocevar, managing director of Renault Australia.The Latitude approach is a two-level attack, with a price leader at $36,990 including everything from automatic air-con to leather seats and alloy wheels. The car is intended to go against a range of rivals including the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and even the Kia Optima."We believe we are delivering a car that's well suited to the market. It's a segment where rational decision making is king. Comfort and refinement are its real strong points," says Hocevar.

The spy scandal at Renault shows it's capable of some classic Inspector Clouseau behaviour. Three former executives are now destined for huge compensation payouts after being falsely accused of flogging secrets to the Chinese. They were fired on the word of a paid informant.But Renault had been the victim of a scam. It's all going to get very messy and has tarnished the do-no-wrong reputation of chief executive Carlos Ghosn, who has sacrificed his bonus and issued a humiliating apology. Hindsight is easy, but I could have told them they were revving up the wrong engine. I offered to spill the beans on the Renault RS250 down at Emperor's Garden and didn't come away with so much as a dim sim.The RS250 is a feisty hatchback along the lines of the Volkswagen Golf GTI but a little bit pricier and French. Things get better from there. It's about the same weight but extracts more power from its 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine. With another 29kW, it's quicker to 100km/h by what is, in hatchback terms, a chasm: 0.8 seconds.At a shade over 6 seconds to the limit, the RS250 is right at the pointy end of hatchback performance. Apart from outright oomph, it has a limited slip differential to help traction and that bane of powerful front-wheel drive cars, torque steer, is largely absent.DESIGNLike the GTI, the RS250 is based on a bread-and-butter hatchback, in this case the Megane. The trick with these cars is to make them look hot and drive well without destroying the hatchback's inherently practical formula.The RS250 looks great, much better than the standard car, although there are some compromises from the two-door layout. The doors themselves are long, the rear is occasional-fit for full-size adults and the hatchback loading lip is high and narrow.The Trophee variant driven here gets 19-inch wheels and snug Recaro seats up front with a squab that lacks tilt adjustment. It took a while to find the right position. Ahead are dials, set at a difficult angle to read. I wouldn't want to rely on them to keep me legal.INTERIORMaterials are a mix of soft-textured plastic on top of the dash and hard, featureless plastics elsewhere. There are some vestiges of the left to right-hand drive conversion, including a start button and handbrake that are closer to the passenger than the driver.There's also that perennial French specialty, the multi-function wand. In its familiar place at 4 o'clock behind the wheel, it now has nine controls that allow audio and other functions to be accessed without taking your hands off the wheel. Unless you want to turn cruise control on. Then you'll spend ages looking for a switch located - absurdly - behind the gear shifter.DRIVINGAs soon as the turbo is on boost - and it doesn't need many revs - the low-down torque is there to make around-town driving less of a constant gear change. That said, it's still possible to stall it because below a certain point nothing happens and the clutch take-up is a bit high. I wasn't a huge fan of the gearshift action either, but that's being picky.The brake and throttle are nicely positioned and the steering wheel is a beauty. The car steers sweetly and with four-piston Brembos at the front, pulls up with authority. Best of all, I liked the car's overall composure, which is first rate and would not disgrace something much more expensive.It's set up with some firmness, as you would expect, and plenty of discipline so it retains contact with the tarmac over bumps. Despite this, there's enough initial cushioning to make it comfortable. This translates into tidy and accomplished dynamics, which make it quick then quicker along a windy road until you reach the - fairly distant - point where it wants to run wide.Quirks aside, the main drawback of the RS250 was a bit too much tyre noise from skinny 35 ratio tyres. On their own they can be a bit loud. Combined with the noise of the turbocharged engine, which occasionally sounds good but mostly sounds industrial, the cabin ambience alternates between a thrum and a drone.VERDICTIf I had younger ears and was after something small and feisty, the RS250 would be on a short list next to the Golf GTI.Read more about prestige motoring at The Australian.

The French carmaker has two Renault racers in the Formula One field at Albert Park, as well as the Renault-engined Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, and is lining up four Megane RS 250 coupes for a Red Bull-backed on-track shootout including David Coulthard and young Aussie hopeful Daniel Ricciardo.But there is more - a limited-edition, grand prix-themed Clio Sport. The new pocket rocket is the latest addition to Renault's go-faster lineup, which has provided the bait for local buyers over the past 18 months.There are only 30 Clio R.S. 200 Australian Grand Prix edition cars and each has a commemorative plaque signed by Webber. The mechanical package is unchanged - with a 147.5 kiloWatt 2.0-litre engine and a close-ratio six-speed gearbox that combine for a 0-100km/  h sprint in 6.9 seconds and a top speed of 225 km/h.The difference between the GP edition and the regular Clio Renault Sport are mostly cosmetic, apart from a $1000 price hike to $39,990. The cars are painted in traditional Renault racing colours of liquid yellow and black, with black-gloss Speedline alloy wheels. The roof is also black.Inside, there are Recaro sports seats, the Renault Sport monitor system and an additional rear spoiler. Cars will hit dealers next month and Renault Australia boss, Justin Hocevar, is predicting an early sellout."I am confident the new Clio R.S. 200 Australian Grand Prix Limited Edition car will become an instant classic," he says.

The retired Olympic swimmer proves it pretty regularly and does it again as he trumps a 12-star field - and a couple of motoring journalists - during a fun run around the Melbourne Showgrounds.The occasion is the Top Gear Live celebration, which includes a series of display drives around a short-and-narrow course mapped through the access roads in the Showgrounds. It's far too dinky for the driver of the classic Elfin to unleash his Formula 5000 racer, but good enough for the celeb contenders in a timed shootout that runs as a backdrop to the Melbourne leg of James May and Jeremy Clarkson's world tour.The best thing about the celebrity challenge, and the reason for a Carsguide cameo, is the cars. Renault has brought a couple of its perky little Clio hatches along for the event, and they are the hotrod 147 kiloWatt RS 200 Gordini Edition. For people who don't know, Gordini has a long history in the France with race and fast road cars.It's a bit like Holden Special Vehicles, with a focus on the baby cars that have been Renault bedrock for generations. The Gordini looks a bit special with a pair of racing stripes over the top, but it's when I turn they key that it really comes alive. It's surprisingly quick, incredibly responsive, and just plain fun.And that's before I head onto the course at the Showgrounds. Australia is now picking up a growing selection of hot hatches from Europe and the Gordini becomes an instant favourite alongside the latest Polo GTi from Volkswagen and the rorty - but expensive - John Cooper Works version of the Mini Cooper S.Just over $40,000 is not cheap, but - apart from a steering column that doesn't adjust for rake - there is no much else to complain about. The Gordini really jumps around the Showground and is quick enough to have celebrity trainer Nathan Pretty - a handy V8 Supercar co-driver at Bathurst and now a V8 ute racer - jumping for cover as I cut one corner tighter than he expects.There is little chance to run through the slick six-speed gearbox but the brakes are great and the suspension keeps the wheels planted on the slippery surface. Later, running back to Melbourne airport, the Gordini is good fun and easy to nip through gaps and ease around some favourite corners. It's a smiley car - and that ticks the box for Carsguide.Pretty really earns his money as the celebrities run through the program, with a wide range of ability and a 13-second spread between Welsh and Vince Colosimo on a run that takes barely 90 seconds. Welsh is eventually a full four seconds quicker than Paul Chapman - Carsguide would have been second - and shows the benefit of years of training and practice.He applies similar dedication to his driving as he used for success in swimming, even arriving at the Showgrounds in a pair of custom driving shoes, in a lesson to anyone who wants to be a better drive. "Matt was always pretty keen. I've seen him at a lot of events," says  Pretty."He used to turn up all the time when I was doing stuff with Holden. He's pretty good. "I wish everyone was like that. This job can get a bit scary at times."

Vettel repeated Webber's first-day domination by taking his RB7 racer to the top of the times on the second day of the final pre-season test ahead leading up to the Australian Grand Prix.Once again, the Bulls' margin to their nearest challenge was clear and obvious around the Barcelona track, although this time it was Sebastian Buemi of Toro Rosso who best-of-the-rest. McLaren, which was runner-up on day one thanks to Jenson Button, was only fourth as Lewis Hamilton jumped into the action while Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams were back in the pack after starting their track work a day late."The speed looks good as far as  we can judge, but I think we have to wait until after Melbourne - maybe in Malaysia or China - to really see where we are," Vettel said."It was a good day and a good time, although to be honest, it's difficult to say where we are, as the lap times of the teams are all over the place." Buemi was quick in the B-team for Red Bull, although no-one is expecting Toro Rosso to be a serious contender at Albert Park."We showed a reasonable performance level and the team did a very good job in preparing the car so well. Overall, it has been a productive test. Now, we must wait and see if we can make even more progress over the next two days with Jaime driving and then we can see where we really are when we get to Melbourne," said Buemi.The other repeat from Monday's track work was Vitaly Petrov's run to the third-quickest time in his Renault.  "The most important thing was to complete the race distance, which we managed this afternoon. It's the first time I've been able to do consistent long runs and really start understanding the tyres," Petrov said.Ferrari said it was not chasing pace with the 150, as Felipe Massa logged an impressive 101 laps to bed-in some aerodynamic changes since the most-recent test.McLaren had a disrupted day as a hydraulic failure stopped Hamilton in the morning and then his car had an exhaust problem in the afternoon. But the former world champion is not optimistic about Albert Park. "Do I believe I have a car to win the world championship at the moment?"I don't. No," Hamilton said. "It was a bit on-and-off today, it wasn't a great day for us, but in terms of how the car felt there was an improvement with some of the upgrades we have. So that is at least a positive, it's not all negative."From today, the improvements we've had, it's something that can grow to be better, so as long as we keep pushing in the right direction with the development, and the new things we have coming several races down the line, hopefully they will enable us to close the gap and compete for wins."BARCELONA TESTING - Day 21. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1:21.8652. Sebastian Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 1:22.3963. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:22.6704. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:22.8885. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:23.3246. Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, 1:24.3347. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber-Ferrari, 1:24.4368. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:25.8079. Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Renault, 1:26.09010. Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Cosworth, 1:26.989

This is not so much the best hot hatch for anything like the money as something that stands the hot hatch category on its head, shakes out its pockets and shoots through with its keys. Everything comparable is over priced or too polite.A hot hatch is traditionally a top line but still relatively affordable model, one that is essentially a tooled up version of a humbler shopping trolley. And yes, the stunning RS 250 is derived from Renault's modest Megane (a car with much to be modest about).It has, however, as much commonality with its parts donor as a sub-machine gun with a musket.VALUEIf performance were the sole measure, we'd be moving on straight away, attaining 100km/h all of 6.1 seconds after we'd started (about the time taken to recite in full the model's name). Pace, as we'll see, is not even half the story.In tangible and tactile terms, the Cup edition gets sports seats, leather steering wheel and matching gearknob, carbon-fibre-effect dash, onboard telemetry via the Renault Sport Monitor and a Power Start feature that controls wheelspin under flat-out acceleration.The (even) more track-focused Cup Trophy gets rear seat space eating Recaro thrones, tyre pressure monitoring, folding mirror, smart card key with neat its hands-free entry and engine start functions, Bluetooth, iPOD audio streaming, dual zone climate control, RS Monitor Display and entirely necessary rear parking sensors.There's also optional 19s with smoky alloys. Go on. You know you want to.TECHNOLOGYMulti-stage electronic stability program allows increasing degrees of freedom, though as is true of the whole construct, you really want a racetrack to play with it. Engaging its Sport setting in turn allows access to the torque regulator's Sport and Extreme mode via the stalk mounted "mouse".No gimmick these. All are genuinely distinctive and useful, though you're almost always going to choose Linear in urban running and Sport whenever circumstances permit impactful acceleration.For all the plethora of info charted through the centre console - G-Forces, lap times, gear shift alert warnings - it's the 250's tried and true tech that most manifests itself. That's a mechanical limited slip differential up front - as opposed to an electronic approximation (a la Golf GTI) - and a rear torsion bar. The suspension is bespoke, lowered and tautened.SAFETYObserve, as if you could avoid seeing them, the immense, bright red Brembo four-piston brake callipers gripping huge 340mm ventilated disc rotors on the front wheels and solid 290mm jobs at the back.There's seatbelt warning lights for all five seats (though how you can hardly be unaware of the bright yellow straps), tyre pressure monitoring, bi-Xenon directional headlamps, auto headlamp activation, auto windscreen-wiper activation, cruise control, speed limiter, ESP with understeer control and emergency brake assist. The spare's a 17-incher.DESIGNAs the danger of going over the top loomed, Renault's designers applied the Brembos hard, leaving the 250 teetering on the brink of the overly stylised. Make of it what you will it is distinctive and, in a dark metallic as opposed to signature yellow, faintly menacing - all flared wheel arches, sharp creases and day time running lights that, somehow, appear reptilian.Opening the door is to appreciate the most obvious connection to the (much) lesser Megane, though the impression is rapidly overwhelmed by the racing accents: Recaros, yellow rev counter, a highly adjustable full grain leather steering wheel and aluminium pedals (and footrest - merci for that small mercy).DRIVINGWhen the 250 ceases to affect you, you're either hopelessly blasé or in need of rehab. It's an adult dose.Blast off from standing. There's minor but discernable hesitation, then an avalanche of torque and some amiable jiggling through the wheel. It doesn't come on as fluidly as we've come to expect from the direct injected turbo fours like the Golfs GTI and R; more in the manner of a jab to the solar plexus.Raw acceleration numbers are bested by others listed here, but in the French car the process feels more, shall we say, outré? That would be meaningless if it wasn't carried so utterly ably when the road ceases to be straight.This is where the 250 departs from the pack, holding the chosen line with amazing tenacity and an equally eye-widening absence of body roll or understeer. I'm reduced to the cliché that it corners as though on rails. If you remain convinced a front wheel drive hottie cannot be gratifying, here's one you must try.Can this be electric steering? There's another preconception with which we can dispense; this is completely linear, amply informative.Even for a practised but middling driver, such as me, on public roads, the 250 is a joyous thing, an almost unrecognisably enhanced shopping device perhaps, but one surely capable in more assured hands than mine (and on a race track) of undoing high end performance machines for which made sums are demanded.Yet in urban surrounds, Frenchie is almost urbane, acceptably firm but not skittish. With torque delivery dialled down you can negotiate car parks just as adeptly as a quiet B-road cutting. Not perfect perhaps, but, pound for pound, perilously close.VERDICTThe hot hatch to have; a joyous giant slayer.